The authors caution there was no placebo control group for cost and practical reasons they give......people getting injections of saline instead of Exanatide. The placebo effect can be substantial.........

The funders of the research put out this press release ; I have just received It and hope it OK tp post here. Hope something comes of this one but we will have to wait.... As usual.

The Cure Parkinson's Trust is delighted that the Exenatide (Exendin) study results have been published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The study was funded by The Cure Parkinson's Trust and took place at UCL in London.

"There are three exciting thing about these results:

1. If future and larger studies on this drug prove the outcome of this trial, then because of its status as a diabetes type 2 treatment, its use in Parkinson’s could be dramatically accelerated. It is possible that this therapy could be available to people with Parkinson’s within a matter of a few years.

2. These results suggest that the drug is safe and well tolerated by people with Parkinson’s and that it may have a beneficial effect on both motor and non-motor symptoms.

3. Scientific experts who have analysed these results say that the trial not only 'speak in favour of a disease-modifying effect' but also they recognise the nature and scale of this trial as a cost effective, quicker and more practical method of screening new molecules for use in Parkinson’s.

i think one of the very encouraging aspects of recent events is that researchers are saying there will be something in at most 3-4 years whereas they used to say it will be at least 5 to 10 years. things are being fast tracked - its almost a competition to see who is going to win the big prizes. personally i am very optimistic.

The results from the brain scans were inconclusive overall. From the paper:

"All exenatide group patients had profoundly abnormal scans at baseline, with some variation in severity of presynaptic dopaminergic deficit. 2 patients with severe baseline presynaptic deficits had minor improvement at 12 months. 1 individual had deterioration in all subregions. Mean values for absolute and percent changes in [123I]FP-CIT activity showed minimal change in all basal ganglia subregions in the exenatide group at 12 months."

Three people dropped out of the trial in total. One because of interference with their medication - the medication was not specified but exenatide slows stomach emptying so the team believe that was the problem. One withdrew because of changes in their sense of taste, and another because of excessive weightloss.

When will follow-up trials start?

That's the million-dollar question. We don't know yet but we'll be keeping a very close eye out for any developments and will let people know of any news through our website and magazines.